Sprinter plans to go the distance; FOX in race for Olympics

The greatest sprinter of all time is ready to run his first marathon. Carl Lewis says he will celebrate his 50th birthday by running the open portion of the 2012 Houston Marathon.

Lewis trained in Houston under coach Tom Tellez, while winning nine Olympic gold medals between 1984 and 1996. But Lewis insists there will be no training this time. "I'm not doing any 20-mile runs to prepare for it," Lewis told SI. "And I won't be running for time. This is something I want to do once."

Lewis said he wants to try a new challenge in his life each year after he turns 50. His strategy: "I'm going to wait until the last hundred meters and then pass some people so I can get one of those finish-line photos," he says.

•The country's best judoka is back on the mats after a lengthy absence. Ronda Rousey, a two-time Olympian and a bronze medalist at the 2008 Beijing Games, returned to action last weekend for the first time since the Olympics and was eliminated from the 70-kilogram division at the Tunisia Grand Prix in her second match.

Rousey, 23, defeated Italy's Jennifer Pitzanti by ippon in the opener, but then lost her second fight against Korea's Hwang Ye-sul. Rousey was called for two penalties and lost the bout by two yukos.

•The U.S. team suffered its second straight defeat at the IIHF World Ice Hockey Championships in Cologne, Germany, a 2-1 overtime loss to Denmark on Monday. Stefan Lassen beat U.S. goalie Scott Clemmensen at 2:04 of overtime for the victory. Denmark has yet to win a world medal.

Keith Yandle scored the only goal for the U.S. team, which also dropped a 2-1 decision in overtime to Germany on Friday. That game was played in Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany before 77,803 fans -- the largest crowd ever to see an ice hockey game. The U.S. team will play Finland on Wednesday.

In the meantime, the NHL's loss is the IIHF's gain, as several national squads boosted their rosters with players who were recently eliminated from the NHL playoffs. Jonathan Ericsson of the Detroit Red Wings and Michael Nylander of the Washington Capitals have joined the Swedish team and Pavel Datsyuk, the Red Wings' leading scorer, has been added to the Russian roster.

•Stay tuned for news of possible doping violations from the Winter Olympics. No, not the 2010 Winter Olympics. The World Anti-Doping Agency has informed the IOC of credible information concerning violations from the 2006 Games in Turin.

Thanks to updated scientific methods of preserving the integrity of urine samples for a longer period of time, the IOC can still look into violations four years after the fact. In question is the drug CERA, a type of EPO used by Rashid Ramzi, the runner from Bahrain who lost his gold medal in the 1,500 meters after testing positive for the substance.

Even though there was only one positive result in Turin for stimulant use by a Russian biathlete, many samples can and will likely now by re-tested for CERA over the next few months.

•Though he said last year that Olympic bids were pointless since nobody ever made money from them, FOX chief Rupert Murdoch is apparently ready to throw his network's hat into the ring for the rights to televise the 2014 and 2016 Games in the United States.

The network's chairman David Hill said FOX will make a strong bid for the next set of Games. The abrupt change of heart comes at a time when only NBC and ABC/ESPN are considered serious players to win the broadcast rights. CBS has indicated it will either not bid strongly or not bid at all.

The IOC has not announced a date when it will accept bids for U.S. rights to broadcast the Games. Is FOX serious or is this an attempt to drive up the rivals' bidding and strain their budgets?

•Lamine Diack, the president of the IAAF, the international governing body for track and field, has announced that he will run for another term in office. The 78-year-old from Senegal had initially said he would step down next year, opening the door for a former Olympic champion such as Seb Coe, Sergei Bubka or Guy Drut to seek the post.

Voting for the four-year term will take place at the world championships in Daegu, South Korea.

•The U.S. men had a terrific meet last weekend at the FINA Diving Grand Prix in Fort Lauderdale, the lone domestic stop on the Grand Prix circuit. Thomas Finchum defeated Chinese divers Chen Aisen and Yue Lin to win gold on the 10-meter platform, while David Boudia and Nick McCrory took gold in the 10-meter synchro event. Troy Dumais and Kristian Ipsen won the 3-meter synchro competition and Dumais won an individual silver behind China's Li Shixin in the springboard event.

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